COLUMBIA, Mo. — The fans were not rocking with the rock fight.

With Missouri and South Carolina knotted up at 62 points apiece and headed into overtime of Saturday’s game, a noticeable trickle of fans chose to walk out into five-degree weather over watching five more minutes of basketball.

What they missed was the Tigers missing coveted free throws and an awry 3-pointer to remain winless in three Southeastern Conference games, slip to .500 on the season and tumble ever closer to rock bottom with a 71-69 loss — their sixth in the last seven games.

Mizzou (8-8, 0-3 SEC) shot 41.9% from the field while the Gamecocks went 40.6% on field goals. MU was five for 22 on 3-pointers; South Carolina was seven for 24. The hosts managed 15 points off the visitors’ 16 turnovers. Points in the paint, second chance points and fastbreak scoring all were even.

But when two Missouri players went to the free throw line in overtime by drawing one-and-ones from fouls on the floor, they missed the front end of each set — four free points bonked to the wayside.

Forward Noah Carter, who was on the floor for more than 41 minutes, led the Tigers in scoring with 23 points. Point guard Sean East II, also on the floor for more than 40 minutes, added 15, while guard Tamar Bates chipped in 12.

MU coach Dennis Gates used only nine players, his tightest rotation of the season. Freshmen Trent Pierce and Jordan Butler did not see the floor for the second straight game.

Mizzou didn’t make a 3-pointer until East pulled up while running the pick and roll on the team’s 11th try from deep, coming more than 15 minutes into the half.

South Carolina had only one 3-point make of its own by that stage, part of why East’s 3 extended a slim Missouri lead amid an otherwise close game. The Gamecocks stormed out to a 7-0 lead in the game’s first two minutes through some shoddy MU defense.

That run out of the starting block drew an early timeout from Missouri coach Dennis Gates. During the break, he subbed forward Jesus Carralero Martin into the game, who triggered a quick equalizing run.

On his first offensive possession, Carralero pulled down an offensive rebound, feeding the ball to guard Tamar Bates, who floated in the Tigers’ first points of the game. Carralero threaded a bounce pass to Bates under the rim on the next possession for a second-straight assist. A spin move in the post created plenty of space for Carralero to get a score of his own with a hook shot. After a defensive play on the other end, the Spanish forward hit Noah Carter in stride for a dunk to get MU within a point.

Guard John Tonje euro-stepped through traffic and handed off to Carter for Mizzou to grab a 23-21 lead just before East’s 3. A backdoor cut-prompted defensive breakdown — the second of the first half — allowed the Gamecocks to briefly recapture the scoring advantage before the break, but a Bates fadeaway kept Missouri up 33-32 at halftime.

“We got off to a slow start, but I’m proud of our guys for fighting back,” Gates said.

Point guard Anthony Robinson II, back after missing Tuesday’s road loss to Kentucky with an illness, picked up his first points of the day at a convenient time, making a corner 3 as the shot clock ran down for Mizzou’s second six-point lead of the game.

Two free throws from a Carter foul that officials reviewed brought the Gamecocks within one point.

East drove into the paint to draw a foul, making both his free throws to restore a three-point lead. South Carolina tied with a pull-up 3 from guard Ta’Lon Cooper, who beat an ill-timed closeout for an equalizer at 62-all.

Gates called timeout with 19 seconds remaining and the shot clock off, setting up a single possession to play for the win. East was fouled on the perimeter with 6.4 seconds left, resetting the possession. He couldn’t find anything off the dribble and bricked a turnaround fadeaway midrange at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.

Early in the extra frame, East went to the line for a one-and-one but couldn’t break the deadlock. Carter, drawing a foul while chasing a rebound, followed him at the line and also missed the front end of his one-and-one. The Gamecocks did not reciprocate the mistakes, bagging their first two free throws of the overtime period for a 64-62 lead.

Carralero fouled out of the game by giving South Carolina’s Cooper an and-one to put the visitors ahead by five halfway through overtime. Carter cut back into the lead with Missouri’s first points of OT at the rim. Mack backed him down in the paint, though, negating Carter’s work on the offensive end.

“Jesus played well. He played a tremendous game,” Gates said. “The rhythm of our team, once he fouled out I think we took a step backwards because he was able to do some things.”

Down 69-64 with 87 seconds to assemble a comeback, Gates called a timeout. Another rebounding infraction sent Carter to the line, where he remedied his earlier shortcoming with two makes.

The much-needed defensive stop came through forward Aidan Shaw’s springy defense at the rim. A scrap for the rebound underwent video review but kept the ball in Missouri’s hands.

Carter further rectified the missed free throws by rattling home a tough corner 3 off an inbounds play. The Gamecocks’ Jacobi Wright hit a bold midrange take over an outstretched Vanover, giving South Carolina a 71-69 lead and Mizzou 6.8 seconds to respond.

Carter tried to play hero, heaving a deep 3 over his head from the top of the key, which bounced off the back iron back into play. Bates recovered the offensive rebound but didn’t have enough time to get off a shot.

And the verdict, as Gates put it after the game:

“Got to the free throw line, wasn’t able to execute front end of one-and-ones and we let one get away.”

South Carolina 71, Missouri 69 (OT)

SOUTH CAROLINA

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS

Mack 27 7-13 6-6 2-4 2 0 21

Murray- Boyles 25 3-6 0-0 2-6 3 2 6

Cooper 40 5-12 1-1 3-8 3 1 13

Johnson 28 2-6 0-0 0-4 3 2 5

Stute 30 2-6 2-3 0-4 0 2 8

Wright 29 3-8 4-4 0-3 0 3 11

Davis 24 1-4 0-0 3-7 0 2 2

Clark 9 1-1 1-2 2-2 0 1 3

Gray 9 0-2 2-2 0-1 1 1 2

Bosmans- Verdonk 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0

Totals 225 24-59 16-18 12-39 12 15 71

Percentages: FG .407, FT .889.

3-Point Goals: 7-24, .292 (Cooper 2-5, Stute 2-5, Wright 1-2, Johnson 1-4, Mack 1-5, Murray-Boyles 0-1, Davis 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 4.

Team Turnovers: None.

Blocked Shots: None.

Turnovers: 15 (Johnson 5, Stute 3, Cooper 2, Mack 2, Davis, Gray, Wright).

Steals: 2 (Johnson, Stute).

Technical Fouls: None.

MISSOURI

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS

Carter 41 9-20 3-5 0-5 1 2 23

Shaw 14 0-1 0-0 3-4 2 1 0

Bates 31 5-9 2-2 2-2 1 4 12

East 41 5-14 4-5 0-8 2 3 15

Honor 38 2-7 1-2 0-1 2 0 5

Carralero Martin 25 2-6 2-2 2-5 4 5 6

Vanover 14 2-2 0-0 0-1 0 0 5

Tonje 12 0-1 0-0 1-1 1 0 0

Robinson 10 1-2 0-2 1-1 0 1 3

Totals 225 26-62 12-18 9-28 13 17 69

Percentages: FG .419, FT .667.

3-Point Goals: 5-22, .227 (Carter 2-10, Vanover 1-1, Robinson 1-2, East 1-4, Bates 0-1, Carralero Martin 0-2, Honor 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 4.

Team Turnovers: None.

Blocked Shots: 3 (Vanover 2, East).

Turnovers: 9 (East 5, Honor 2, Robinson).

Steals: 11 (Carralero Martin 4, Honor 3, Bates, Carter, East, Tonje).

Technical Fouls: None.

South Carolina 32 30 9 — 71

Missouri 33 29 7 — 69